How many of you can honestly say that you possess duality? That you have the ability to mold yourself to any environment? That you can still be yourself at your core and feel comfortable in any environment because of your inner acceptance of the complexities that are you? I can. I am proud to say that I am from the West side of Chicago and it is a dynamic to my personality. I also graduated from De Paul University and that too has helped to mold me. I am proud to say that although I live in California now, I still yearn for an Italian beef double dipped with extra peppers from one of my old neighborhood restaurants. At the same time I love the taste of fresh sushi and shots of Saki. Yum. That my friend are very minute ingredients to possessing duality.
These things may seem trivial but they are divisions of my personality that help to make me, me. I urge all people to have a sense of duality. Especially my younger brothers and sisters who may have spent majority of their time in their neighborhood. Once you are able to please go out into the world. Even if that means just leaving your side of town. Stop letting your fear of feeling temporary uncomfortableness limit yourself and your growth. I mentioned in one article that part of the reason why I stopped dating neighborhood guys in Chicago was because they were too afraid of the unknown. They never wanted to leave the comfort of our neighborhood and made any possible relationships with them difficult because I was very much so open to exploration. How could I grow with a stagnant person? I couldn’t. This does not mean that everything that is outside of your immediate surroundings is somehow better, it just means that exposing yourself to different atmospheres is useful when developing duality. You never can know what you can give the world if your don’t step off your block.
Some might ask “Why should we be dual? Why do we have to have depth? Why can’t the other have the burden of having to have the duality and adjust to us?” In a perfect world, things would operate in that fashion and maybe to some extent and with some people they do. However, for the majority it does not. People already come with a presumption of what they can and cannot expect from young urban youth. Which is why I say let’s prove their asses wrong. Show them that we are just as complex, educated, multifaceted and wonderfully different as the next.
I urge the younger urban youth to never and I do mean never, be afraid to branch out of your norm. Allow yourself to have complexities and many facets to yourself. Think of yourself as a rubex cube that possesses many sections, that can be reached with a simple click or a turn. Branching out will prevent you from feeling uneasy around people of different cultures, who have different beliefs. Branching out will give you what I call chameleon swagger. Meaning that you could be thrown into any environment and still be successful, and most importantly be yourself. Leave fear of the opinions of other behind and be dynamic. Stop turning your nose up at things that are different to what you have become accustomed to. Or laughing at a peer for branching out of their immediate surroundings and culture. Note that this does not mean that you have to sell out or loose yourself, it simply means that you are allowed to grow just like everyone else. The only restrictions placed on you are the ones you allow to be there. When I see urban youth do that in ignorance I worry for their future. They are so young and have already decided to limit their lives. There is much more I could say about this but I’m not. I will stop here until further notice. What do you think would be a good move towards opening the minds of urban youth? Suggestions….
